Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I read this post and have been thinking about this and what kind of world our children will inherit.
Even though some had rough times in life or tough childhoods, I have been coming back to his words and it just makes me sad.
I want to go back to a time when this song was on the radio every day. I want to be able to leave the back door and the car unlocked. I want kids riding their bike in the street. I want neighbours who know each other and say good morning. I want to be able to walk home alone at night without fear of being raped or robbed. I want Sunday lunch with friends. I want to have a cigarette at the bar without the "looks". I want to be able to speak without fear of someone listening until they can find something to be offended by. If anyone knows of a place like that which still exists....please, let me know.
This was talking about 1976 so what changed? Did I play a part? I did get married, have 2 children but I couldn't be a SAHM even though I wrestled with it. I did have a grandma for hire who came to my home and was a part of our family for 20 years.
I remember 1976. High school football games; my brother was a DE - he played against Mark Richt in HS (became the UM coach a few years ago and was at FSU and Georgia; everyone went to the games and then I remember we would all go home in time to watch Dallas. My dad just loved that old JR.
But, it seems we all spent more time together then. In the 1980's, we all got married and had kids but we all spent time together. Was it working a lot? The internet?
I think the wisdom from this board will come up with some good answers.
I don't know who "we" is, and we all certainly didn't get married and have kids in the 1980s or some other time.
I am not sure what OP is asking. Seems to me when most people get married and have kids, they are less in friendships and maybe community except for kid-related stuff.
For what it's worth, I was certainly always fearful of assault of some kind, since my early teen years and working evenings at restaurants or any other night walking, and I grew up in a decent, busy suburb.
Maybe "we all" means family and siblings? In which case, I'm the wrong person to ask (or answer). I look forward to other answers.
The bolded part is the part written by another person most likely looking at the 70's and that they were more carefree than today.
The part after that is from me and describes my own family in 1976. There were 4 children. We all graduated from high school in the 70's and were all living at home. In 1976, 2 had graduated HS but 2 to go.
I was just thinking about what he wrote and it rang true.
Then, when I had my own family, I feel sad often of those years and miss my kids growing up but I saw them every morning and night.
You didn't hear about shootings in high school, stuff like that.
Did the media play a part? Did those who were mentally unbalanced get ideas? Who knows?
It's too easy to reminisce and it serves me no purpose. Life moved on. I was in high school in the 70s and yes it was for me a lot like that description but we can't live in the past. I had no idea at the time how Leave it to Beaver my life was in some ways. Does it really matter what happened? Those days are not coming back.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,744 posts, read 58,090,525 times
Reputation: 46231
Afraid you need to go back at least 10 yrs prior to 1976. (A miserable yr for me) but 10 yrs earlier I was living with grandparents and very secure and safe (tho dangerous risks of farming. (Lost 3 classmates to accidents).
But today....
Car not locked, keys will be in it overnight (so I know where they are!)
House will not be locked tonight. Doors open for breeze. Went to Sunday lunch with friends, made homemade peach ice cream (as we do every weekend for 'drop-ins). Currently ... At evening concert in the park.... Dance band of old codgers playing "in the mood" .... Over 40 people up front dancing on the grass.
Please come join us (we have offered a Free international guest home.... For last 35 yrs). We can lock the doors if you prefer. I still have friends in small town America who don't know where their house key is.
Consider going to Malta, I hear it is very safe and friendly.
I see lots of threads on different forums wondering what has happened. Why do we have mass shootings? Why do kids take drugs? Why are people so hateful?
It's not the same world we grew up in and people wonder why. I don't have the answers.
Too much tv? Too many violent video games? Social media? Lots of people seem to think it started with the internet and maybe they're right. We've mostly gone downhill, down to the lowest denominator.
I can say that I have never felt unsafe--well maybe once or twice at night in a parking garage, but mostly not unsafe in towns walking around or driving. But I know it's not really as safe as it used to be. Just read the news or watch the local news on tv. People didn't used to do things like the stuff you hear about now. If they did, it was much more rare. I can remember when I first heard of a home invasion and I think it was in the 1980s in our town--first one we ever had. After that people started locking their doors, even their car doors when the car was in the driveway.
I don't know. My kids were born in 1977 and 1979. We left our door unlocked but got robbed twice in the early 1980s. Schools were pretty bad even back then so ours went to private school. Interest rates and inflation were high. We paid 13% interest on a car with good credit. Our home was at 8.75% because we bought it in 1977.
My point is that the good old days are often good in hindsight. That said, I think technology has irreparably harmed the fabric of society. Kids (and their parents) can't disconnect from each other. Boredom is not allowed. I was bored in school. I read books or just ahead. I was bored visiting my grandmother. I watched Hee-Haw and got over it. A soda was a treat, and so was a movie.
When I read the OP's post, it made me think she was comparing life in the 70s to now.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
From the OP
